The Competition Council fined Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport for abuse of a dominant position, due to the fact that the management of the utility denied the access of the handling company Romanian Airport Services SA to the airport infrastructure, according to a press release of the competition watchdog sent to AGERPRES on Monday.
Representatives of the Competition Council claim that both the Competition Law and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union have been violated.
"This is the first sanction measure applied by the competition authority in the Romanian aviation industry. By Decision no. 74 of October 8, 2019, the plenary meeting of the Competition Council found that Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport has committed an abuse of a dominant position, by refusing to allow the access of Romanian Airport Services SA to the airport infrastructure necessary for the provision of ground handling services at Cluj Airport between 11.09.2015 - 09.03.2017, thus violating the provisions of Article 6 paragraph (1) of the Competition Law No. 21 / 1996, as well as the provisions of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union," reads the release.
According to the quoted source, the decision was rendered within the investigation launched by Order of the President of the Competition Council no. 447 of June 24, 2016, following a complaint filed by the Romanian Airport Services SA, the only company with 100% Romanian capital operating on the Romanian handling services market.
"The decision of the Competition Council is to be published and can be challenged at the Bucharest Court of Appeal. The legal assistance of Romanian Airport Services during the investigation was provided by the law firm Furtuna and Associates, specialized in aviation law," the release added.
The Romanian Airport Services SA is a Romanian handling company operating on ten airports in Romania, providing services in 2019 for approximately 6,300,000 passengers and 47,000 aircraft movements. Avram Iancu Cluj International Airport is an autonomous company that operates under the Cluj County Council and registered in 2019 a traffic of approximately 2,920,000 passengers, being the second largest airport in Romania.
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